Buffeted by millions of digital scans and attacks each day, federal authorities are looking for hackers &#8212; not to prosecute them, but to pay them to secure the nation's networks.

General Dynamics Information Technology put out an ad last month on behalf of the Homeland Security Department seeking someone who could "think like the bad guy." Applicants, it said, must understand hackers' tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems.

And in the Pentagon's budget request submitted last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates hung out his own help-wanted sign, saying the Pentagon will increase the number of cyber experts it can train each year from 80 to 250 by 2011.

Amid dire warnings that the U.S. is ill-prepared for a cyber attack, the White House conducted a 60-day study of how the government can better manage and use technology to protect everything from the nation's electrical grid and stock markets to tax data, airline flight systems, and nuclear launch codes.Please follow Copyright Guidelines

This isn't a new concept in any way, AOL and many others went on a hiring spree about 15 years ago for the same reason, seeking hackers and virus coders willing to help them improve security. The old adage "if you can't beat em, join em" can work on some level. Hackers have a unique talent for finding loopholes and back doors which the designers are not always able to spot.

Obama gonna keep dem Chinese outta our networks...US plan aimed at keeping China out of US networksFeb 12,`13 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House cybersecurity executive order, to be unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama's top security officials, will be the most comprehensive plan yet for confronting electronic attacks on America's computer networks, or at least a good-faith effort amid an alarming tide in industrial espionage in the past year that experts blame mostly on China.

The strategy is expected to urge businesses to enforce tougher standards to protect online commerce and direct U.S. intelligence agencies to share even classified threat data with companies considered vital to the U.S. economy, such as transportation and banking. While symbolic, the plan leaves practical questions unanswered: Should a business be required to tell the government if it's been hacked and U.S. interests are at stake? Can you sue your bank or water treatment facility if those companies don't take reasonable steps to protect you? And if a private company's systems are breached, should the government swoop in to stop the attacks - and pick up the tab?

The process has exposed how difficult and complex the issue is, turning the long-awaited executive order into a bureaucratic scramble aimed at showing countries like China and Iran that the U.S. takes seriously the protection of consumer secrets. It's been an intensive effort by White House staff and industry lobbyists wary of government intervention but fearful about their bottom line. "I think in general it means (the U.S.) will advance the case of cybersecurity, and that's important," said Paul Smocer, the head of the technology policy division at The Financial Services Roundtable, a powerful lobbying group that represents the nation's biggest banks. "How much teeth versus how much gum there is, we'll see."

The cyberthreat to the U.S. has been heavily debated since the 1990s, when much of American commerce shifted online and critical systems began to rely increasingly on networked computers. Security experts began to warn of looming disaster, including threats that terrorists could cut off a city's water supply or shut down electricity. But what's emerged in recent years, according to cyber experts, is the constant pilfering of America's intellectual property by U.S. competitors. "We have, as the U.S. government, set up lawn chairs, told the burglars where the silver is in the bottom drawer, and opened up the case of beer and watched them do it," Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" this week.

The U.S. has been preparing a new intelligence estimate that details cyber espionage as a growing economic problem. One official told the Associated Press last week that the estimate was expected to cite more directly a role by the Chinese government and favor aggressive action against the Chinese government. The official was not authorized to discuss the classified report and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Richard Clarke, a former White House cybersecurity adviser during the Clinton administration, said that executive orders and intelligence estimates aside, the U.S. in 15 years of debate on the subject still hasn't answered the very practical questions of who exactly is in charge of stopping a cyberattack on commercial networks and at what point the government should deploy its own resources.

US Report Highlights Economic Threat of Hacking February 11, 2013 - U.S. officials say hackers pose a threat to the nation's economy and accuse China of carrying out the most cyber-attacks.

The assessment is in a classified "National Intelligence Estimate" that officials described to U.S. media, including The Washington Post. A published report says hackers are targeting the energy, finance, information technology, aerospace and automotive sectors. Some estimates put the cost to the U.S. economy at tens of billions of dollars each year. Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum think tank, said it is difficult to identify the true sources of cyber espionage. "Attacks have been on the rise without question," he said, explaining that, often, even experts can only guy where the attacks are coming from. "As for the vulnerabilities to the financial sector, I would assume that's correct, but I would suggest that the vulnerabilities are throughout the U.S. economy," he added. "The problem is that many people do not like to speak about these things because either they're unaware they are being attacked or very reluctant to publicize their vulnerabilities."

The White House is considering responses to cyber-attacks, including trade actions and visa restrictions. The Washington Post says President Barack Obama is expected to issue an executive order on cyber security soon, intended to help private companies defend themselves against hacking. The newspaper says the report also names Russia, Israel and France as countries that gather economic intelligence through cyber-attacks. Several U.S. newspapers, including the Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times accuse Chinese hackers of infiltrating their computer systems. The Chinese Foreign Ministry denies the allegations.

Duncan Clarke of Stanford University, who also chairs BDA  a China-based investment and advisory firm  said that if China is responsible for directing corporate espionage, it would be to help Chinese companies compete with their U.S. rivals. He said a government could harm its own economy if it responds too harshly. "The risk is in overreacting, particularly without explicit evidence, that you cause protectionist tendencies," he said. "There have already been issues at Huawei and ZTE, which are China's champion telecom equipment companies, denying them access to U.S. markets. And we have not seen that level of concern in other countries, so the risk is that you actually hurt your own interests by taking too hard a line on this."

The U.S. government has been concerned for years about the "significant and growing" threat of hackers stealing data for economic gain, and a report in The Wall Street Journal says businesses have long been well aware of the problem. So far, Washington's response has included everything from giving written guidance to businesses on intellectual property crimes, to setting up a toll-free number to report problems, to unsuccessful efforts to get Congress to pass legislation on the issue. President Obama says foreign governments and criminals are looking into U.S. financial, energy and public safety systems "every day." Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued a strong warning about the threat of cyber-attacks in a speech in October. He says the U.S. military has put $3 billion into cyber security efforts.

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